AIIMS academic panel cuts short IPS officer’s PhD dream

Academic Committee that met at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences have decided to cancel the candidature of Sailesh Yadav, the IPS officer who wanted to do a PhD in forensic medicine, reports Jaya Shroff Bhalla.

Academic Committee that met at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have decided to cancel the candidature of Sailesh Yadav, the IPS officer who wanted to do a PhD in forensic medicine.

HT Image

Yadav was selected for final interview after passing the written test, which AIIMS doctors claim is scientific and theoretical in nature and an impossible task for a non-science graduate to crack. The AIIMS faculty had also called for an inquiry.

Raising questions on Yadav’s eligibility for the PhD programme, the academic committee sought clarification from Dr T.D. Dogra, acting director about his selection so far.

Dissatisfied with the clearances and the no-objection certificate submitted by Yadav, the committee decided to refuse him admission.

“There were some problems in his (Yadav’s) application but we would like to wait for the final minutes of the meeting, which still have to be reviewed and signed by all members,” said a senior member of the academic committee refusing to be named.

The possibility of Yadav’s candidature was put forward for discussion in the meeting after acting director Dr T.D. Dogra and faculty members of forensic department Dr R.K. Sharma and Dr Sudhir Gupta were at loggerheads regarding his merit at the time of his final interview.

Since two of the interviewees — Dr Sharma and Dr Gupta — gave him zero after declaring him “unfit” for the programme, Dr Dogra had cried foul practice and backed his candidature.

Dr Dogra, who is also the head of forensic medicine, wrote to the sub-dean, examination, challenging the rejection.